This is my old blog. You can find my current blog at stephanieperkins.com.

5.31.2009

SHAMEFUL BOOKFEST ENTRIES #3 & 4

This picture has absolutely nothing to do with this post. Jim Sturgess just looked all nice & jaunty. Also, he's lacked blog-time lately, and how else will people find me, if not through "Jim Sturgess Images" searches?

Isn't it weird how even though blogging is, like, this totally optional thing, you can still suffer hardcore guilt whenever you ignore it for a few days?

Or at least I do.

Guilt guilt guilt.

Feeling slightly bummed by my first real week back with Second Novel and discovering IT STILL HATES ME. We're working through our issues, but it's not easy or pleasant or even barely tolerable. Also, BEA (BookExpo America) is happening right now, so I'm a frumpy green monster of jealousy. 95% of my favorite authors are in attendance, whooping it up and collecting free books and exchanging blissful rainbow smiles made of candy.

And I am here. With Second Novel.

Who is mocking me and whispering evil taunts into my ear canal like, "You'll never be invited to BEA, because you have to conquer me first and you will NEVER conquer me because I AM INVINCIBLE and you are a WORTHLESS TADPOLE! SUCK ON THAT, CRAPNUGGET!!!"

Second Novel is really starting to tick me off.

And yet the only way to beat it is to spend more time with it. Which feels a little unfair. Sometimes I wish my occupational desires ran more along the lines of shrimp boat captain or wedding photographer or lion tamer.

I'm thinking perhaps I re-read too many princess books in between the novels on my self-imposed Required Reading List. The chances of me finishing this challenge on time are not looking positive.

Er, whoops?

But the awesome thing about Octavian Nothing is that it's set in Revolutionary Era Boston, which I've just learned tons about! Pretty sweet timing, no? (By the way, I still have lovely intentions to post about Boston/LeakyCon. My blogging skills just crumble once I get in Serious Writer Mode. It's difficult to do both at once. Or, maybe, I'm just lazy. You decide.)

I've decided to discuss them in bullet points, because it's my blog, and I can do whatever I like.

#3: JANE EYRE

• You were right! I should have read this years ago. I loved it. And I'm already looking forward to reading it again. And, you know, renting the movies. And reading the related books, like The Eyre Affair and Jenna Starborn and such.

• No, I am not obsessive. Why do you ask?

• Mr. Rochester is HOT. Hot hot HOT. Like, molten core boiling lava on burned toast hot. I knew he was supposed to be Mister Dark, Mysterious, and Brooding, so I expected that also meant silent. But he was a talker! And funny! A welcome surprise.

• Unfortunately, I already knew about The Thing In The Attic (it's hard to work with books and NOT know the secrets to classic novels), but I didn't know about the very end. So I was relieved to discover it was a happy one. I confess I much prefer happy endings with a true love that lasts forever and ever and ever, as opposed to those challenged by untimely death or lasting bitterness or stupid television plot devices that make characters CHEAT or BREAK UP just to keep the ball rolling. No! Give me kissing and endless devotion. I'm a sap like that. Bravo, Charlotte Brontë!

• Speaking of Charlotte, what do you guys think of her other novels? Should I read? Do they have happy endings? Or are they more Emily Wuthering Heights-ish?

#4: UGLIES

• Whee! What fun! Why do I have to read Octavian Nothing? I want to read Pretties instead!

I've published 8 books and am not at BEA either.....pout, pout, pout, but it is good to be in good company. Laurie Halse Anderson isn't there either, and is leading a big pout-fest this weekend. (Check out her blog.) Those naughty famous authors and their rainbow candy smiles.......ugh! (jealous? me? never.)

Anyway, you have two choices about your buttly second novel:

1. Whip it into shape.2. Maybe it wants to go in a different direction than you think it should, and that is why you are fighting with it. You could always try and see where it wants to go for a while....you never know.

Good Luck!!

(and hang in there. nobody (and this includes manuscripts) can be a pain in the a** for an unlimited amount of time......it's just not possible.)

The Uglies series is fantastic. The whole thing. Good luck with the Octavian Nothing book. It's still on my TBR pile. I keep putting it off. I heard it was really boring and there are so many other cool ones waiting. If it does hold up let me know so I can drag it up from the bottom of the pile and quit passing it by.

Hi, there! I'm Steph, and I wrote ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS, LOLA AND THE BOY NEXT DOOR, and ISLA AND THE HAPPILY EVER AFTER. I also edited the romantic holiday anthology MY TRUE LOVE GAVE TO ME and the upcoming SUMMER DAYS & SUMMER NIGHTS.